Women

Pippa Saunders, a freshman at UC Berkeley, has been named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Week in women's water polo. Saunders, a Corona del Mar High product, had four goals in No. 5-ranked Cal's 11-8 win at No. 11-ranked San Jose State on Saturday. She added a goal in a 12-4 win over No. 12-ranked Loyola Marymount on Sunday. Pippa's 11 goals lead all freshmen for Cal (15-5, 1-3 in conference). - From staff reports

Courtney Conlogue, a former Sage Hill School athlete, claimed the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival Saturday over Coco Ho in clean two- to three-foot waves at Taranki's Fitzroy Beach in New Zealand. The dramatic final featured two of surfing's rising stars, Conlogue and Ho, on event No. 4 of seven on the ASP Women's World Championship Tour. Conlogue, a Huntington Beach resident, came out on top with 14 points over Ho's 9.27. "I put in a lot of hard work between last year and this year and I'm stoked to have it paying off with a win," Conlogue told surfersvillage.com.

IRVINE - Growing up, Kaleigh Gilchrist always was known as the two-sport star. She was a surfer, and she was a water polo player. She was great with a board and a big wave, or with a No. 15 cap on her dome in the pool. Gilchrist, the former Newport Harbor High standout, still has a passion for both sports. But right now in her life, water polo reigns supreme. The decision may not have been easy, but the USC women's water polo team is certainly reaping the benefits. Gilchrist is a junior co-captain on the top-ranked team in the country.

Q: Two of your last columns are tied together in my mind. Recently, you offered a prayer for the new pope and said, "Old practices that are true but not popular need to be preserved. Old practices that are just old and not true need to be let go. " The week before, you asked readers for the one question they'd ask God. After reading these two columns, I have my one question for God: Are women and men spiritual equals? If they are, and a woman has a calling, why shouldn't she be able to fully participate in the (Catholic)

New Directions for Women raised more than $400,000 at its fifth annual Circle of Life fundraising breakfast. The event, hosted at the Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach on March 25, garnered a turnout of about 250 attendees, including Mayor Keith Curry, business and healthcare professionals, and board members. The Costa Mesa substance-abuse treatment center will use the proceeds to fund scholarships for women or help mothers looking to free themselves from addiction. Established in 1977 with the help of Pamela Wilder and the Junior League of Orange County, New Directions provides a venue for affordable rehabilitative and detox care.

October was a busy month for Newport Beach police. On the first of the month, police responded to a call of a man threatening to kill his girlfriend while holed up in a Balboa Coves home . An hour after that was resolved, police heard from a Kern County dispatcher that two Newport residents were discovered in the middle of the desert after being kidnapped and then abandoned . Days later, they received a call that the parents of...

In 2001, Natasha Herzig found herself at age 19 staring at a gun, yanked into a car before she could make a sound. She spent a year trapped, working as a high-end escort for a pimp. The indignities were numerous. She remembers receiving a beating for asking whether she could go home. There was the john who once tried to suffocate her with a shower curtain after forcing her to lie in an ice-filled bathtub. She had to walk "the track," meaning the street, to meet her prostitution quota.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO Hawaii 12, UC Irvine 11 (sudden-death OT) IRVINE - Emily Carr scored for Hawaii with 32 seconds left in the first sudden-death overtime period, ending the wild Big West Conference match Thursday night at UCI. Hannah Croghan scored a match-high four goals for No. 6 UC Irvine (13-7, 1-1 in conference). Kelsey Klatt and Michaela Pierandozza added two goals each for the Anteaters, who lost for the first time in its last 15 Big West matches. The No. 9 Rainbow Wahine improved to 8-5, 1-0 in conference.

NEWPORT BEACH - More than 250 women gathered for a sold-out event that featured LPGA Tour Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez Thursday at the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club. Lopez was the keynote speaker for Women's Business Day presented by UPS and also conducted a clinic with a little bit of help from Champions Tour pro Corey Pavin on hole No. 10. Lopez offered golf tips and also delivered helpful lessons. The 48-time LPGA Tour winner made the rounds with media before attending the luncheon.

UC Irvine junior forward Camille Buckley was named to the All-Big West Conference second team by the league coaches. Buckley led the Big West in rebounding at 9.9 per contest and was 12th overall in scoring at 12.1 points per game overall. She also ranked sixth in field-goal percentage with a .452 mark. In Big West games-only, she is the only player to average a double-double with an 11.9 points and 11.5 rebound average. Buckley grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds at UC Davis which is tied for seventh in the country this year.